Infections with adenoviruses are widespread in humans, normally being asymptomatic. Only in immune-suppressed individuals, like after organ transplantation the virus presents a threat to life. In adenovirus particles, the viral nucleoprotein is organized into a highly compacted core structure. Upon migration to the cell nucleus the viral nucleoprotein, consisting of protein pVII, has to be remodeled and exchanged by nucleosomes to form a transcription and replication competent viral genome. In this study the early steps of virus infection, comprising the path from cellular infection, nuclear entry and initiation of transcription, were analyzed with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Remodeling of nucleoprotein structure was studied, i.e. the assembly of nucleosomes and changes in the higher order structure of the virus genome by Functional Extraction of Chromatin (FCE) combined with high-throughput sequencing. Chromatin structure changes are correlated with gene expression and the viral localization in the cell.
Modified virus annotation and code used for analyzing early steps of Adenovirus infection:
Schwartz, Uwe, et al. "Changes in adenoviral chromatin organization precede early gene activation upon infection." The EMBO Journal 42.19 (2023): e114162.